4 replies to this topic

[alan]

Hi everyone. Please review my site. The link is in my signature.

GENERAL
Is this site completed or under construction? - It is completed.

IF COMPLETED:
How long has the site been up?

The URL is almost 2 years old. But I really started working on it last February, and I didn't start marketing it until last June.

SEO
Do you have incoming links?

I have hundreds of on-topic reciprocal back links. As well as hundreds of one-way links to my site. Some I asked for, and some I didn't.

I've written about 8 - 10 hypnosis & NLP articles that have been published on literally hundreds of other web sites. While the titles are well indexed in all of the search engines, my url in those articles doesn't seem to be indexed that well.

I'm marketing for one-way back links from hypnosis and NLP blogs by offering a free e-copy of one of my published NLP books (hardcopy has sold for up to $35.00). I ask them to put up a link to this resource for their readers. The goal is to have the PR flow back into the site from this deep link.

I also ask the people who download the e-book, that if they like the book, to please put up a link to my site that I supply to them. I had a php program written that holds an unlimited number of links with link text and description variations. Each time that page is opened, it rotates through the list of available links, so that there are many, many different variations of links pointing to my site. Presently I have put about 40 different versions into it's database.

I started writing to colleges and universities last week to ask them to provide a link to this free resource for their psychology students. (It's too early to tell on this one.)

DIRECTORIES:
I'm listed in Yahoo Directory, and about 30 other excellent directories. I didn't scrimp on the $$ here.

DO YOU WANT YOUR CODE REVIEWED FOR CORRECTIONS?
Sure

MY MAIN KEYWORDS ARE:
weight loss hypnosis, lose weight hypnosis, quit smoking hypnosis, stop smoking hypnosis.

I'm actually ranking fairly well on MSN, with some first page listings. I'm beginning to rank on Yahoo, with some listing between # 14 & # 60, though they only rank my index.html page. They do show over 100 of my pages in their index.

Google has been brutal. They rank me well for an unpopular keyword, "appetite hypnosis," but even at that I get more traffic from them than from Yahoo & MSN combined. But Google has totally filtered me out of any and all of the good keyword phrases. Based on their link command, they recognized my first back link last August 16, 2006. They now show 31 back links, and they have 199 of my pages in their index.

I do not get nearly enough visitors to my site. But about 20% - 25% return. My conversion rate is very low: about 1/2%. That would be okay if I had 500 or 1000 visitors a day. But it doesn't cut it with fewer than 100 daily visitors.

Most visitors look at between 3 and 4 pages of the site.

MARKETING
Who is your target audience? Think about:
Gender - Both male and female
Nationality - any English speaking
Age Range - 35 to 65
Income/Education level - nominal income level, average to above average education

Basically looking for anyone with a bad habit or addiction that they want to eliminate.

Why is your site different from sites selling/offering similar info/goods/services? Why will someone want to do business you?

While all other sites offer only audio based hypnosis, and it is Traditional Hypnosis at that (based on commands or post-hypnotic suggestions which are not very effective), my site offers the only patented version of Video hypnosis available, in addition to more modern and effective methods of audio hypnosis which do not rely on post-hypnotic commands or suggestions.

Please approach the site more from a civilian customer's point of view rather than from someone who is more aware of SEO. In other words, what sells you, and what doesn't.

I sell recorded hypnosis and NLP programs. Appetite control and smoke cessation are my main programs. But please pick out topics that you might actually be interested in purchasing for your own use, and let me know what sells you, and what repels you. (Hey, that rhymes!)

My titles have several things going for them that no one else's does, as mentioned ablve. Hopefully my copy makes what the differences are clear to you. If not, then I am missing the mark and I need to know where.

HOW IMPORTANT IS USABILITY?
It is very important for users to be able to find what they are looking for.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE SITE? (inform, sell, online community, support B&M business, contact info only, etc)

The purpose of the site is to sell hypnosis recordings, as well as provide a fair amount of free educational type content.

DESIGN
Do you want design suggestions?

Definitely.

Okay, so please take a look and please be specific with your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Edited by alan, 13 November 2006 - 07:17 PM.

[MaryKrysia]

I went through your web site as you requested, as a potential customer instead of looking at the SEO.

The information presented is in Sales Page format. These pages go on and on with sales hype. I had some trouble finding information such as the content of the self-hypnosis programs and the price of each program. I do not personally like Sales Pages and believe you would do much better with less sales hype and more useful content for your visitors, such as information on hypnosis.

In addition, the calls-to-action are hard to find and do not stand out as well as they could. It takes too many clicks and too much searching to find the button or link to actually buy the product.

The visual focus of the home page is the title banner which draws the eyes away from the content. I suggest toning down the home page title banner and placing your photo in a different area of the page. The focus that draws the eyes should be the one thing you would like your visitors to notice first, which is most likely something you are selling.

Considering that most electronic newsletters are free (a potentially great way to increase business), I was put off by the cost of your newsletter included in the price of the program. This would stop me from making a purchasing more than anything else. The long sales pages are a very close second reason.

The design also breaks apart in the Firefox Browser.

I must admit I had trouble finding anything I really liked or found compelling about this web site and I usually look for the positives.

Mary

[alan]

Thanks Mary, a lot of good food for thought!

But I do have one question. Since the weekly newsletter, which I put a value of $97.00 on, is included free with the purchase of the program, and it clearly states that it is not the same newletter that is available on the site for free, why would the price (free inclusion) turn you off?

Also, I have a whole free library of original articles on hypnosis and NLP on the site. There is a link to the Self-Help article library on every single page. I guess that you just didn't notice it. maybe I need to make it stand out more. But there is limited realestate available to do that. Any ideas?

Alan

[Abhay]

Inspite of Alignin the webpage to left it shud b align to center..

Menu need too much work..
it changes size on hover

the height of each menu item shud b larger so dat it shud nt move on hover..

[ScottSalwolke]

One thing that needs to be worked on is the navigation. It changes from page to page. The index page has one style that is different from subsequent pages. On the appetite pages and smoking pages, the navigation bar along the side is no longer there. And even when the navigation is present, it overwhelms people. You want something that is user friendly and right now this site isn't.

As for the material itself, people need to understand how they'll benefit from the hypnosis. I'm not sure the site does it in a manner that is immediately evident to prospects.